Day 8 - Last day in Beijing

Today, as usual, began with breakfast at the hotel. We met a wonderful Australian couple where we talked politics, life in Australia, the fact that if McCain wins the world will hate the US even more, etc. etc. (In case you're wondering - the World as a whole seems to be very pro-Obama. Everyone we've talked to (yes everyone from Malay, to Australian, to Dutch and Chinese are all pro-Obama. Interesting).

Your average breakfast conversation in East Asia :-).

We had a fairly leisurely morning - answered some emails, called the family then ordered room service. We get hungry pretty quick.

After brunch, we headed to the Silk market in Beijing for a shopping extravaganza. We did some research on the market so we were pretty prepared on what we were willing to spend on our 'must have' items. What are the must haves you may ask? They are as follows:

- (2) Chinese silk robes. Yes, 1 for Jon and 1 for Ashley. Do not judge Jon.

- (1) Pair of designer knock of sunglasses to replace the 46 pairs Jon has broken in 2008

- (1) Chopstick set for Jon & Ashley's insatiable desire for sushi

- (1) Cashmere Burberry Scarf for Ashley

(* If you're wondering, the answer is YES. We are only buying things for ourselves :-) )

- (7) Toys or local China things for Jon's nieces and nephews (we lied, we did buy things for other people too)

List in hand we set off for our bargaining. Side note - Jon, having grown up in NY took many trips with his Dad to Chinatown in NYC. That is where he learned the art of negotiation that was in high gear in the Silk Market.

We started our shopping; first up were some knock off Polo shirts Jon had his eye on. Starting price: $60 USD each. Purchase price: $14 for 2.

Next up, silk robes. Starting price: $150 each. Purchase price: $20 for 2. Jon was getting into a groove. They kept saying, you drive hard bargain, why you so cheap!

We went on to purchase a Chopstick set - complete for 6 people including soy sauce dishes. They wanted $75; we paid $14. Jon bought 2 pair of glasses - asking price: $60 ea; purchase price: $14 for 2. We bought a few hand paintings for less than $7 each; a cashmere scarf for $12; items for all Jon's nieces and nephews (7 of them) for less than $15. It was a fantastic day of shopping and bargaining.

We were pretty tired after all this negotiation and cabbed it back to the hotel to get our laptop and head to Starbucks where we're writing this post. In a few hours we'll head to the train station and a 12 hour train ride to Shanghai.

Looking forward to Shanghai. Have a very cool Carbon-Friendly hotel booked in Shanghai. Looks like there are some cool acrobatic shows, fantastic cityscape photo ops and karaoke bars awaiting us in Shanghai.

Til then!

Day 7 - Great Wall & Ming Tombs

Today started out like every other day - an odd breakfast of fried noodles, dried kiwi wedges, larb, and pastries. A classic American breakfast. After detoxing, we headed to the lobby to meet, "Tina", our Chinese English speaking tour guide for the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Ashley stole 3 more bottles of water from the maid and we were off to northeastern China.

Our driver, the honorable "Mr. Lee", smoothly navigated us through 24 near head-on collisions, 16 pedestrian killings and 11 rear-endings. All the while he insisted on using the horn..guess Mr. Lee always has the right of way.

2 hours later we were at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. It is a little less touristy than Badaling, the most visited section of the Great Wall from Beijing so we had some pretty cool, non-populated views of the wall.

We took a quick cable car up a good ways (same car President Clinton took in 1998), and started our trek. We were presented the option of walking to the top of Mutianyu, which was ~3 KM from where the cable car dropped us off. We decided to trek it - after all, we're at the Great Wall of China! About 1.8 KM into the trek, we regretted it slightly. It was very steep and riddled with steps designed for small Chinese feet. Not ogre like American feet. Nonetheless, we persevered and made it to the top of Mutianyu. Unbelievably beautiful; the Wall surrounded by gorgeous mountains. And we couldn't have asked for a better day.

After hanging out on top and catching our breath for a little while, we trekked back down to meet the tour bus. We left the wall and headed to a Jade factory that is controlled by the government. We had no say in this and knew about it ahead of time, so we just took it in stride. We had a similar experience in Bangkok earlier this year, but at least this time we knew about it in advance and it was far less shady.


After walking around the Jade factory and oohing and aahing over jade we were presented lunch in the back of the factory. Family style chicken, rice, pork, fish, vegetables and other items we're not sure their origin. It wasn't the best lunch we've had in China. We tried to fill up on rice.

Next up were the Ming Tombs - or portion of the Ming tombs. We walked there for a while and honestly weren't that impressed. Maybe it was just the section we were in, but we had more fun taking silly photos of each other :).


After the Ming tombs we headed to a government run Medical facility. Historically, we all know that Eastern medicine is heavy in herbs, acupuncture, etc and this tour was intended to 'educate' westerners on the importance of Eastern medicine. They herd us all into a medical room and we are presented with some basic information on acupuncture then introduced to a Chinese doctor who can diagnose your ailments within seconds of feeling your pulse. Fascinating. One of our tour group members was examined by the good doctor and told he had a fatty liver, stop drinking beer, lose weight and get in shape. All within a few moments of feeling his pulse. The gentlemen has had Multiple Sclerosis for years now. Interesting the good Chinese doctor didn't diagnose that...

After the medical facility tour we were dropped off at our hotel. Starving, we headed back across the street for Hot Pot, round 2. Beef, noodles and vegetables - yummy.

Pretty tired from our excursion today we're calling it an early night. Off to the Silk Market in the morning, Peking Duck for lunch then a 12 hour train ride to Shanghai tomorrow night!